Alexander Iosifovich Baturin |
Alexander Baturin
The birthplace of Alexander Iosifovich is the town of Oshmyany, near Vilnius (Lithuania). The future singer came from the family of a rural teacher. His father died when Baturin was only a year old. In the arms of the mother, in addition to little Sasha, there were three more children, and the life of the family proceeded in great need. In 1911, the Baturin family moved to Odessa, where a few years later the future singer entered auto mechanic courses. To help his mother, he starts working in a garage and drives cars at the age of fifteen. Fumbling at the engine, the young driver loved to sing. One day, he noticed that colleagues at work had gathered around him, listening with admiration to his beautiful young voice. At the insistence of friends, Alexander Iosifovich performs at an amateur evening in his garage. The success turned out to be so significant that professional singers were invited the next evening, who highly appreciated A. I. Baturin. From the union of transport workers, the future singer receives a referral to study at the Petrograd Conservatory.
After listening to Baturin’s singing, Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, who was then the rector of the conservatory, gave the following conclusion: “Baturin has an outstanding beauty, strength and volume of a voice of warm and rich timbre …” After the entrance exams, the singer is admitted to the class of Professor I. Tartakov. Baturin studied well at that time and even received a scholarship to them. Borodin. In 1924, Baturin graduated with honors from the Petrograd Conservatory. At the final exam, A. K. Glazunov makes a note: “An excellent voice of a beautiful timbre, strong and juicy. Brilliantly talented. Clear diction. Plastic declamation. 5+ (five plus). The People’s Commissar for Education, having familiarized himself with this assessment of the famous composer, sends the young singer to Rome for improvement. There, Alexander Iosifovich entered the Santa Cecilia Academy of Music, where he studied under the guidance of the famous Mattia Battistini. In Milan’s La Scala, the young singer sings the parts of Don Basilio and Philip II in Don Carlos, and then performs in the operas Bastien and Bastienne by Mozart and Gluck’s Knees. Baturin also visited other Italian cities, participating in the performance of Verdi’s Requiem (Palermo), performing in symphony concerts. After graduating from the Academy of Rome, the singer makes a tour of Europe, visits France, Belgium and Germany, and then returns to his homeland and in 1927 he was enrolled as a soloist at the Bolshoi Theater.
His first performance in Moscow was as Melnik (Mermaid). Since then, Alexander Iosifovich has performed many roles on the stage of the Bolshoi. He sings both bass and baritone parts, because the range of his voice is unusually wide and allows him to cope with the parts of Prince Igor and Gremin, Escamillo and Ruslan, Demon and Mephistopheles. Such a wide range was the result of the singer’s hard work on the production of his voice. Of course, the excellent vocal school that Baturin went through, the ability he acquired to use various voice registers, and the study of sound science techniques also had an effect. The singer works especially intensively on the images of Russian opera classics. Listeners and critics especially note the images created by the artist of Pimen in Boris Godunov, Dosifei in Khovanshchina, Tomsky in The Queen of Spades.
With a warm feeling, Alexander Iosifovich recalled N. S. Golovanov, under whose leadership he prepared the parts of Prince Igor, Pimen, Ruslan and Tomsky. The singer’s creative range was expanded by his acquaintance with Russian folklore. AI Baturin soulfully sang Russian folk songs. As the critics of those years noted: “Hey, let’s go down” and “Along the Piterskaya” are especially successful …” During the Great Patriotic War, when the Bolshoi Theater was evacuated in Kuibyshev (Samara), a production of the opera by J. Rossini “William Tell”. Alexander Iosifovich, who performed the title role, spoke about this work as follows: “I wanted to create a vivid image of a courageous fighter against the oppressors of his people, fanatically defending his homeland. I studied the material for a long time, tried to feel the spirit of the era in order to draw a true realistic image of a noble folk hero. Of course, thoughtful work has borne fruit.
Baturin paid much attention to work on an extensive chamber repertoire. With enthusiasm, the singer performed the works of modern composers. He became the first performer of six romances dedicated to him by D. D. Shostakovich. AI Baturin also took part in symphony concerts. Among the successes of the singer, contemporaries attributed his performance of solo parts in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Shaporin’s symphony-cantata “On the Kulikovo Field”. Alexander Iosifovich also starred in three films: “A Simple Case”, “Concert Waltz” and “Earth”.
After the war, A. I. Baturin taught a class of solo singing at the Moscow Conservatory (N. Gyaurov was among his students). He also prepared the scientific and methodological work “The School of Singing”, in which he sought to systematize his rich experience and give a detailed description of the methods of teaching singing. With his participation, a special film was created, in which the issues of vocal theory and practice are widely covered. For a long time at the Bolshoi Theater, Baturin worked as a consultant teacher.
Discography of A. I. Baturin:
The Queen of Spades, the first complete recording of the opera in 1937, the role of Tomsky, the choir and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater, conductor – S. A. Samosud, in an ensemble with K. Derzhinskaya, N. Khanaev, N. Obukhova, P. Selivanov, F. Petrova and others. (Currently this recording has been released overseas on CD)
The Queen of Spades, the second complete recording of the opera, 1939, part of Tomsky, choir and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater, conductor – S. A. Samosud, in an ensemble with K. Derzhinskaya, N. Khanaev, M. Maksakova, P. Nortsov, B. Zlatogorova and etc. (This recording has also been released overseas on CD)
“Iolanta”, the first complete recording of the opera of 1940, part of the doctor Ebn-Khakiya, choir and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater, conductor – S. A. Samosud, in an ensemble with G. Zhukovskaya, A. Bolshakov, P. Nortsov, B. Bugaisky, V . Levina and others. (The last time this recording was released on Melodiya records was in 1983)
“Prince Igor”, the first complete recording of 1941, the part of Prince Igor, choir and orchestra of the State Opera House, conductor – A. Sh. Melik-Pashaev, in ensemble with S. Panovoy, N. Obukhovoi, I. Kozlovsky, M. Mikhailov, A. Pirogov and others. (Currently this recording has been re-released on CD in Russia and abroad)
“Alexander Baturin sings” (gramophone record by the Melodiya company). Arias from the operas “Prince Igor”, “Iolanta”, “The Queen of Spades” (fragments of complete recordings of these operas), Kochubey’s arioso (“Mazeppa”), Escamillo’s couplets (“Carmen”), Mephistopheles’ couplets (“Faust”), “Field battle” by Gurilev, “Flea” by Mussorgsky, two Russian folk songs: “Ah, Nastasya”, “Along the Piterskaya”.
